Getting your player ready...
LOS ANGELES — Two experimental drugs promise to transform hepatitis C from a debilitating liver disease into a manageable condition for a majority of patients, researchers said Wednesday.
The new drugs work by blocking a key enzyme that the hepatitis-C virus needs to make copies of itself and spread. The two drugs, called boceprevir and telaprevir, nearly doubled the number of patients who achieve what is known as a sustained viral suppression — effectively, a cure — in those with new hepatitis- C infections. For patients who did not respond to initial therapy or who suffered a relapse, the drugs tripled the chance of bringing the virus under control.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve both medications in May.
